Slide-seat rowing apparatus



June 26, 1951 N. J. JEWETT SLIDE SEAT ROWING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed July l0, 1946 Fig.

ATTORNEY `lune 26, 1951 N. J. JEWETT 2,557,972

SLIDE SEAT ROWING APPARATUS Filed July l0, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.l0.

wmv! VIII/Ill A [NVM/TOR. NELSON J. Jgwf rr Mmmm Patented June 26, 1951UNITED STATES Pri-Tsui* oFF-ICE SLIDE-SEAT ROWING APPARATUS Nelson J.Jewett, Arlingtonv County, Va.

Application July 10, 1946, Serial N'o. 682,562

(Cl. 9a.-7;)

6 Claims.

, l The invention relates to manually propelled boats' and has as anobject the provision ofapparatus for readily adapting the common skin?,punt, canoe or the like for slide seat rowing.

Rowing, as it is done in shells, is recognized as a very beneficial andenjoyable form of exercise. However, this form of exercise is not'Y opento the masses for several reasons amongwhich are: that shell rowing tothe novice is akin to tight rope walking in the diiiiculty encounteredin keeping right side up, and learning to row in this manner involvesnumerous involuntary baths; rowing shells are expensive and are of novalue for use in any other manner.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a unitary slidingseat and foot rest assembly structure that can be placed upon a seat orthwart of any' usual craft designed for rowing or paddling toadapt thesame to propulsion in the well known racing manner, and be as read-ilyremovable to leave the craft in its former condition, to

- provide a, two purpose craft.

In usual iixed seat rowing the travel of the handle end of the oar islimited to the reach of the arms and movement at the hips. In slidingseat rowing the leg motion is added. It follows that oars dimensionedfor fixed seat. rowing -are not usable with a sliding seat. There mustbe more travel of the handles which means that the grip of the oar mustbe further from the lock. Therefore. in accordance with the presentinvention supplemental Outrigger oar locks are provided so formed as tobe readily placed and removed Without interference with later normaliixedseatpropulsion ofthe craft.

vof Figure l;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

.. g Figure 4. a detail section on line 14H4, of Fig- ;ure 1;-

Figure 5 is a detail section ofa roller shownr in sectioncn Figure 3.drawn to an enlarged Scale;

Figure 6 is a bottom, plan ViewY of the roller als- .sembly of Figure 5,omitting the supported parts;

Figure 7 is a plan View of a boat with the apparatus of the inventioninstalled;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of a supplemental Outrigger oar lock ofthe invention;

Figure 9 is a plan view of the structure of FigureS;

Figure 10V is a detail section on line Ill-Ill of Figure .9;

Figures 11, 12 and 13 are perspective views on an enlarged scale ofparts;

Figure le is a detail view in perspective and end section of a clamp; v

Figure 15 is a perspective View looking downwardly of a for-m ofOutrigger', shown as applied to 'a canoe with a wall of the canoe insection;

Figure- 16 is a, central section drawn to an 'enlarged scale, of a padshown in Figure 15;- and Figure 17 is a face view of the pad of Figure16. 1 As shown, the sliding seat of the invention comprises a relativelythin member 2t formed with thickened edges 2l, 22, 2-3 adapted to reston any usual thwart or seat 24. The entire sliding seat assembly orstructure 90 should be designed to raise the seat surface as little aspossible above the existing seat surface of the craft.

Therefore, the member 20 may be made of sheet metal or preferably ofplywood. To achieve the stated objects of the invention, the assemblymust be inserted with the thwart-seat Istill in place, the thwart beinga hull stiflening member. Since the existing oar locks are to beutilized, the assemblyl must occupy substantially the same fore and aft,location as the thwart and hence will overlie the thwart. As describedbelow, the assembly preferably has partial support 58 and 42 from thebottom of the hull. It is apparent that the entire support may thus behad, although partial or entire support by the thwart is preferred. Thewords over the thwart, as used in some of the following claims are,therefore, to be interpreted as location defining words.

To guide rollers upon which the seat. may slide, tracks. 2'6, 2l, 28 areIshown and indicated as half round to coact with the grooved rollers. Asshown three tracks and rollers are shown, giving three point` supportfor the sliding seat 29. The edges of the seat '29 are shown as beveledand the thickened edges 2|, 22, 23 are shown as inwardly .beveled toagree, by virtue of .which structure if; the rollers get off' thetracksv they will be guidedback. to place.-

To hold the member 20 in place on a thwart there are shown strips 30, 3lspaced downwardly by blocks or strips. 352. 33, the latter being equalthickness to, the usual thwart or boat seai- The structure may beclamped to the thwart by means of bolts 34 equipped with wing nuts.

To support a foot rest to which the driving reaction of the oars istransmitted, la, strut 35 is shown rigidly connected to the seatstructure and carrying the foot rest structure 36.

As shown, the strut 35 comprises spaced bars having rigidly securedbetween them an upright 31 formed with a shoulder 38 to which the end ofa narrow projection 39 of the base member 20 is secured, and the centraltrack 26 extends to the upwardly projecting end 40 of the upright. Thereis thus provided a support Vfor the track 26 and a stop for forwardsliding of the seat. rIhe triangular structure comprising the strut 35,the upright 31 and the portion 38 of the seat will the side of the boat.Coacting with the fitting 12 there is shown a clevis 13 and clevis pin14 for its ready detachment. The clevis is shown as formed with a hollowinternally screwthreaded socket to screw on the threaded end of thebrace 1I, whereby the length of the brace may be adjusted. The upper endof the brace 1I may be welded to the socket 64 and arm 63.

For use with craft not equipped with a gunwale socket the form of Figurel5 may be utilized. As there shown the arm B3 which rests on the gunwalecarries the central member 15 of a double hinge to one leaf of which issecured the bar 16 provide great strength and rigidity with lightness.

To support the strut from the bottom of the boat, indicated at 4|, anupright member 42 is shown received between the spaced members of thestrut, and formed with a slot 43 to provide adjustment on'a clamp bolt44. If desired the base of the upright 42 may be removably secured tothe bottom of the boat by means of screw eyes 45 and links or hooks 46.

As shown the foot rest structure 36 comprises an upright central member41 and an angle portion comprising a foot rest proper 48 and a capmember 49. Secured in the angle of these members there are shown spacedblocks 50, 5l through which and through the upright a clamp bolt 52passes by which structure the foot rest may be angularly adjusted. Endblocks 53, 54 are also shown secured in the angle. A strap 55 is shownproviding toe loops 56 and 51 against which the forward pull on thesliding seat is exerted.

A pair of clamp bolts are shown to secure the foot rest structure to thestrut 35 with extra holes for variation of the height of the foot restand for length of limb of the user.

If desired a rear support 58, may be provided .made for lengthadjustment as illustrated.

As shown, the roller structure comprises a pair of metal angles 59, 60,rigidly connected by the axle 5| upon which the roller 25 freelyrevolves. lThe angles 59, 60 and the axle Bl are the only portions ofthe seat structure necessarily formed of metal.

4is shown a pin 65 rigid with the arm, entering the gunwale socket andretained by a cctter pin.

To brace the arm 63 horizontal braces 6B, 61 are shown, illustrated ascontinuous past the socket E4 to which the arm 63 and the braces v maybe welded. To secure the braces to the gunwale for ready removal, aclamp 68 is shown at the free end of each brace.

As shown in Figure 14, the clamps are Swivelly connected to the ends ofthe respective braces, as shown in Figure 14 whereby the clamp nut 59may be placed either inboard or outboard.

To protect the gunwale a shoe 10 is shown at the end of .the clampscrew.

To secure the diagonal brace 1I, a fitting 1 2 is shown which may bepermanently attached to and to a second leaf is secured the angularlyformed bar 11. A diagonal brace 1l is adjustably secured to the bar 11and the ends of bars 16 and 11 carry pads 18. To clamp the bar 63 to thecraft an end 19 is turned downwardly and equipped with a clamp screw 68to press the inner pad against the wall of the craft.

The pad 18 may be formed from a readily available rubber cup filled withrelatively soft but sufficiently resistant material as cork composition.To complete this form of the Outrigger the Ybraces and 61 may beconstructed as in the first form described. l

The apparatus of the invention may be made and sold for use in existingboats or canoes. Also it is contemplated that boats may be especiallydesigned as two-service boats and supplied to the user with theapparatus of the invention and with conventional oars, and oar locks.Sucha special boat might well have a somewhat less beam per length andslightly lower sides whereby they may be amply safe for quiet waters andyet -may go through the 'water with less resistance.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the inventionwithin the scope of the appended claims, without departing from thespirit of the invention.

I claim: i

1. Slide-seat rowing apparatus for use with manually driven craft havinga thwart, comprising in combination: a base member for support on thethwart; a plurality of tracks secured to said base member inparallelism; a seat slidable on said tracks; a foot rest strut securedto said base member and projecting therefrom; and a foot rest secured tosaid strut.

2. The structure of claim 1 with means to adjust the foot rest on thestrut for height and angularity.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the base member is formed with acentral projection over and supported on said strut; the tracks arethree in number, the central thereof extended on said projection; andthe seat has means for threepoint support on said tracks.

4. In apparatus of the class described, in combination: a boat structureincluding a thwart; a slide-seat assembly comprising a base member toover-lie said thwart, a plurality of tracks arranged in parallelism uponsaid base member, a seat slidable on said tracks, a plurality of rollersprojecting below said seat to coact with said tracks; and readilydetachable securing means coacting between said thwart and said assemblyacting to prevent relative movement therebetween.

5. In apparatus of the class described, in combination: a boat structureincluding a thwart; a slide-seat assembly comprising a base member toover-lie said thwart and including a narrowed projection to extendtoward the stern of the boat; a pair of tracks secured in parallelism atoppo-v site sides of the base member in positions to be substantiallyparallel with the gunwales of the boat, a third track secured on saidbase member parallel with the rst named tracks and extending along saidnarrowed projecting; a seat slidable on said tracks, and readilydetachable securing means coacting between said assembly and said thwartacting to prevent relative movement therebetween.

6. The combination of claim 5 with a foot rest strut secured to saidbase member and said narrowed projection; and with a foot rest securedto its free end.

NELSON J. JEWEI'I.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

Number Number Great Britain Oct. 13, 1939

